Rockefeller Center

We did pass through Times Square a few times during our trip to New York, and it was as crowded and hectic as it always is. We didn't have much desire to visit any of the tourist trap stores there, so we didn't linger there too long.



It was slightly more busy that the last time I was here, way back in 2006. On that visit, a huge blizzard dumped several feet of snow. We passed through Times Square the morning after, and the streets were nearly empty (something that probably doesn't happen all that often).



We visited Times Square while on our way to Rockefeller Center, the sprawling complex of 19 buildings that stretches across 22 acres of Midtown Manhattan. The center of the complex is Rockefeller Plaza, which was crowded with tourists watching the skaters on the ice rink. The plaza is also home to the 18 foot tall bronze statue of Prometheus, which was placed there in 1934. Although from this angle, the statue looks like a bro trying to photobomb a picture taken by someone on the ice skating rink.



Another famous statue in Rockefeller Center is Atlas, holding the celestial vault on his shoulders.



The statue was placed in 1936 and stands just across the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral.



We headed across the street and had a look inside the cathedral. St. Patrick's is listed as the largest gothic Roman Catholic Cathedral in the country. It took 21 years to build (thanks to a little delay in construction during the Civil War), and was completed in 1879. The spires on the front of the church are 330 feet tall, and were the tallest structures in the city when they were built.



Inside, the church seats 2,400 people and has an organ with 7,855 pipes. There are also 2,800 stained glass panels inside the cathedral.



We went back by Rockefeller Center another night, when all the buildings were lit as brightly as a lighthouse. Here's another shot of the Cathedral...



And another of the Atlas statue...



One of my favorite recent TV shows was 30 Rock, so I was happy to have another look around. We actually planned on going to a taping of a show while we were in New York, of either The Tonight Show or the Late Show. But The Olympics were going on, so most of the shows were on a little break.







We returned to Rockefeller Center again, late one night after seeing an off-Broadway play (Avenue Q, which was hilarious). It was around 10:30, but we decided to go ahead and use our CityPass and go to the Top Of The Rock observation area. We didn't really have time to visit there again, and we figured we'd be there when it would definitely not be as crowded as the Empire State Building had been. Unfortunately, the upper levels of the Top of the Rock were closed, so we could only look at the view through thick plexiglass. Oh well, it was still a pretty great view.



The observation area is called Top Of the Rock, because you are literally at the very top of the 70-story 30 Rockefeller Center building. It also provides a pretty great view of the Empire State Building and the One World Trade Center Building.





And one last shot - a closer view of the Empire State Building and the One World Trade Center Building, taken while awkwardly looking through a gap in the glass panels that was just big enough for the camera lens to peek through. We would visit the World Trade Center Building, and the 9/11 memorial, on the next day of our trip.